Amid walkout by Congress members over the rise in vector-borne diseases in eastern Uttar Pradesh and gag on the media on publishing news of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) deaths, the Yogi government informed the Vidhan Sabha on Friday that diseases and deaths related to these diseases had come down drastically this year.
Replying to a question of Congress member Ajay Kumar Lallu, Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said that the government was doing good work by spreading awareness among the people about vector-borne diseases, and this had paid dividends during the last one year.
“We have already trained around 74,000 people in affected districts, while around 100 ventilators have been added in district and other government-run hospitals,” he said.
Quoting national reports, Lallu claimed that around 268 children had died of AES and JE in east UP. The minister, however, denied the deaths and said that as per information with the government the toll was minimal.
The House witnessed heated discussion when Ajay Kumar Lallu alleged that there was a gag order on the media on publishing report on AES and JE deaths of children and no release was being issued by BRD Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur in this regard.
“It is like an undeclared emergency in the state,” the Congress member said. This irked the Health Minister and he said that everyone knew who had imposed Emergency in the country.
However, the minister admitted that since the media was creating unnecessary controversy by misreporting about the disease and deaths, BRD Medical College hospital had stopped issuing daily bulletins to the media.
Dissatisfied with the Health Minister’s reply, Congress members staged a noisy walkout from the House.